Gourdeau Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 Tag and Trade, guy is totally out of check with reality http://triblive.com/sports/columnists/timbenz/breakfastwithbenz/13383533-74/tim-benz-leveon-bell-making-it-impossible-to-stay-with-steelers-long Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevegrab Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 Last year's tag was around $12M, and I heard (linked article confirms) they offered something like 3yr/$42M last year, over $13M average per year, which is more than the tag. Now with the tag at $14.5M, I guess the floor would be $45M, and probably well over $50M to be what Bell thinks he deserves. I don't like the team so I'm not bothered by their troubles, but I can see the pickle they're in. I doubt Bell retires as he has said he would, PIT would still retain his rights, and he'd be missing out on $50-100 million in potential earnings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millworkguy Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 Such is the value of scarcity, bet you someone would pay it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesplante11 Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 1 minute ago, millworkguy said: Such is the value of scarcity, bet you someone would pay it. Exactly, I bet SF would pay him to play along side Jimmy G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMD Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 Ima 1 hour ago, jamesplante11 said: Exactly, I bet SF would pay him to play along side Jimmy G Imagine the fantasy implications for the 49ers if they had Garoppolo, Le'Veon Bell and drafted a top rookie WR or got a top vet. Still needs some O-line help but it would be a pretty fast turnaround to be sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caveman_Nick Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 Frankly I think RB’s get the shaft, and good for Bell trying to redefine the market. fact: certain teams have shown that you can have an adequate running game with RBBC and backs that are of average NFL talent. fact: certain RBs have shown that having eleite talent at the position can be a real difference maker. RBs take the most abuse of all the players that handle the ball, by a pretty large margin. When someone playing the position is an elite skill player, regardless of position, then they should be able to get paid a salary that says ‘star’! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMD Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 Problem though is that incidence of injury is higher for an RB and their productive spans are shortest among the skill players. They can be difference makers to be sure, but they want the long contract with huge guaranteed money. Don't blame the RB for getting what they can - they know well that they could be gone on the next play. Hard to imagine PIT letting Bell go though. Bet it is not resolved until late in the summer. He's not going to like the franchise tag since he could shred an ACL and then be screwed for the big future contract. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caveman_Nick Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 It’s a risk, for sure, but is it less of a risk for the player? Imo the RBs in the league need to stand up and get paid for the punishment they are asked to absorb, including the high risk of injury. if NFL teams do not want difference makers, then sign someone else. There is room for compromise....pay the great RBs large sums of guaranteed money, but in short contracts. The 36 for 3 style deals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMD Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 I think one of the problems is that you need a long contract to spread out the cap hit. I don't know all the ins and outs of how contracts are written in the NFL but guaranteed money can be spread throughout the life of the contract I believe. That leaves dead money at the end of a contract that is ended early by the team. The second contract is the "set for life" contract when the four or five years of the rookie deal are up. it is the one contract that players like Bell have to cash in on. It may be the only chance he'll have to get paid big money. I agree - the short length of most careers and the punishment should be considered. But that is why teams like the Pats just plug-n-play $3M/yr guys and then throw them away and get another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caveman_Nick Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 I can’t disagree, but then how much better would the Pats be if they had a Bell level talent in the backfield? MAybe the difference for them is less than it would be for, say, Miami because only one of those 2 teams has TB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gourdeau Posted March 7, 2018 Author Share Posted March 7, 2018 My Issue with Bell is that while I agree he should be paid as the best ( even though in reality he isn't statistically, 2nd to Gurley in scrimmage yards and barely ahead of Hunt) His ask is ludicrous. They upped their offer from last years offer and he said no, he wants minimum annual average of this years tag value. My sense is people go a little over the top over his numbers in the fantasy world, but in reality, he averaged 4 YPC and 4.5 yards per touch, with one of the best Olines in the game, a HOF QB and the best WR in the game. He had 2 runs over 20 yards, he's slow, but an elite pass blocker and receiver. I believe a guy like Dion Lewis would fill the role beautifully, signing bell totally handicaps them for improving what they need to win the super bowl and that's def, whens the last time a RB carried a team to the SB. They only have 6 mil in cap space and need to make up 8 mil to pay for the tag ( Entire Tag counts towards the cap, long term deal can be spread out over the life of the deal)... you can't devote that much cap room to a RB when you have other needs, especially with Ben done in 2-3 years, its win now and you don't need a 15 mil RB to win in the NFL. An old Deangello Williams had some of his best games of his career with this Offense, I say sign a Dion Lewis or Carlos Hyde for 5-6 mil, shore up the def and Draft some depth at RB and let him go. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdko Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 2 hours ago, Gourdeau said: My Issue with Bell is that while I agree he should be paid as the best ( even though in reality he isn't statistically, 2nd to Gurley in scrimmage yards and barely ahead of Hunt) His ask is ludicrous. They upped their offer from last years offer and he said no, he wants minimum annual average of this years tag value. My sense is people go a little over the top over his numbers in the fantasy world, but in reality, he averaged 4 YPC and 4.5 yards per touch, with one of the best Olines in the game, a HOF QB and the best WR in the game. He had 2 runs over 20 yards, he's slow, but an elite pass blocker and receiver. I believe a guy like Dion Lewis would fill the role beautifully, signing bell totally handicaps them for improving what they need to win the super bowl and that's def, whens the last time a RB carried a team to the SB. They only have 6 mil in cap space and need to make up 8 mil to pay for the tag ( Entire Tag counts towards the cap, long term deal can be spread out over the life of the deal)... you can't devote that much cap room to a RB when you have other needs, especially with Ben done in 2-3 years, its win now and you don't need a 15 mil RB to win in the NFL. An old Deangello Williams had some of his best games of his career with this Offense, I say sign a Dion Lewis or Carlos Hyde for 5-6 mil, shore up the def and Draft some depth at RB and let him go. Agree with all that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 13 hours ago, Caveman_Nick said: I can’t disagree, but then how much better would the Pats be if they had a Bell level talent in the backfield? MAybe the difference for them is less than it would be for, say, Miami because only one of those 2 teams has TB. In a vacuum they would be better with Bell back there, but in reality if they were to spend that much on a Bell, they would then have to take hits elsewhere on the field. If you add $12/mill to your RB spend, you have to make up for that elsewhere, perhaps taking a hit to the O-line or D-Line in the process that may cause a greater hit to the overall team than the improvement from your run of the mill $3-4/mill/year guy to Bell. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesplante11 Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 21 hours ago, DMD said: Ima Imagine the fantasy implications for the 49ers if they had Garoppolo, Le'Veon Bell and drafted a top rookie WR or got a top vet. Still needs some O-line help but it would be a pretty fast turnaround to be sure. Bell and A-Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gourdeau Posted March 8, 2018 Author Share Posted March 8, 2018 Well AB restructured his deal today to make the cap space available for Bell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millworkguy Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 Just now, Gourdeau said: Well AB restructured his deal today to make the cap space available for Bell That's just re-mortgaging your house for another 5 years so you can go out to eat... Tomorrow never seems to catch up to today. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gourdeau Posted March 8, 2018 Author Share Posted March 8, 2018 2 hours ago, millworkguy said: That's just re-mortgaging your house for another 5 years so you can go out to eat... Tomorrow never seems to catch up to today. I would still suspect cuts will happen in order to make more room to sign FA's on def but for the moment it looks like Bell is going to report Week 1, new he was bluffing about retirement, he's such a tool. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesplante11 Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 14 hours ago, Gourdeau said: I would still suspect cuts will happen in order to make more room to sign FA's on def but for the moment it looks like Bell is going to report Week 1, new he was bluffing about retirement, he's such a tool. Hes more like an entire tool system that runs off one battery. Very useful, but very much still a tool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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